While yesterday was dominated by the first Saturday of college football, we’re right back to DFS baseball today. The DraftKings slate begins at 1:05 Eastern Time and includes nine games. FanDuel doesn’t have the same slate. However, they do have an All-Day slate, which starts at 12:10 Eastern Time.
Sunday’s Top MLB DFS Picks & Player Props
Sunday’s Starting Pitcher Rankings (8/31)
| PLAYER | DraftKings Salary | FanDuel Salary |
| Tarik Skubal | $11,400 | $11,200 |
| Ian Seymour | $6,800 | $7,100 |
| Bryce Miller | $5,500 | $7,000 |
- This is very much a stars-and-scrubs slate for starting pitchers. There are two starting pitchers over $10,000 who are both in play, but I’ll choose Tarik Skubal. He leads baseball in strikeout percentage, strikeout minus walk percentage, FIP, xFIP, and SIERA. What more can you say? Oh yeah, he has a matchup against the Kansas City Royals, who are bottom five in the league in wRC+.
- Ian Seymour had his first career start in his last game. He went five innings against the Cleveland Guardians without allowing an earned run. He was able to strike out eight in that matchup. Today, he has a matchup against the Washington Nationals. They are bottom 10 against left-handed pitchers in wRC+.
- There aren’t many promising statistics to look at with Bryce Miller. His strikeout rate is down and his walk rate is up. That’s why his FIP is over 5. His struggles are baked into the price at these levels, though. He also takes on the Cleveland Guardians who have far and away the lowest OPS and wRC+ in August among teams.
Suggested Lineup Stacks
Boston Red Sox Projected Lineup (8/31)
| POS | PLAYER | DraftKings Salary | FanDuel Salary |
| OF | Roman Anthony | $4,900 | $3,100 |
| 3B | Alex Bregman | $5,200 | $3,500 |
| OF | Jarren Duran | $5,000 | $3,300 |
| SS | Trevor Story | $4,800 | $3,300 |
| 1B | Nathaniel Lowe | $3,900 | $2,600 |
| OF | Masataka Yoshida | $3,000 | $2,700 |
| 2B/OF/
SS (FD) |
Ceddanne Rafaela | $3,600 | $2,800 |
| 2B/SS (FD) | David Hamilton | $2,900 | $2,400 |
| C | Carlos Narvaez | $3,700 | $2,900 |
- The Boston Red Sox are taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates today. The Pirates are starting Mitch Keller. Keller made five starts in August. In those starts, he had an ERA of 7.88 and a FIP of 5.37.
- A good starting point to your Red Sox stack is rookie Roman Anthony. He now has the at-bats to qualify for the Statcast Leaderboard. He has the highest hard-hit rate in baseball at 59.4%. He has had a .957 OPS in the month of August. His price on FanDuel makes him nearly a must-play.
- It’s possible that a platoon role could be in Jarren Duran’s future. He has an .868 OPS against right-handed pitchers and a .584 OPS against left-handed pitchers. The good news for today is that Keller is right-handed
- Alex Bregman is also a strong stack option, but you also want a cheaper option. A value play option is Ceddanne Rafaela. While he doesn’t have discernible differences in right-handed versus left-handed pitchers, he does have a difference at home versus on the road. He has a .782 OPS at Fenway Park, like today’s game, and only a .668 on the road.
New York Yankees Projected Lineup (8/31)
| POS | PLAYER | DraftKings Salary | FanDuel Salary |
| OF | Trent Grisham | $4,400 | $3,300 |
| OF | Aaron Judge | $6,400 | $4,700 |
| OF/1B (FD) | Cody Bellinger | $5,200 | $3,500 |
| 1B | Paul Goldschmidt | $3,800 | $2,900 |
| OF | Giancarlo Stanton | $5,500 | $3,700 |
| 2B/3B (FD) | Jazz Chisholm Jr. | $5,200 | $3,600 |
| C | Austin Wells | $3,400 | $2,900 |
| SS | Anthony Volpe | $3,500 | $3,100 |
| 2B/3B/
OF (FD) |
Amed Rosario | $3,200 | $2,500 |
- The New York Yankees are taking on left-handed pitcher Martin Perez today. Perez is coming off his best start of the season with seven innings of one-hit baseball against the Kansas City Royals. He has now given up just one run in his last three starts combined. Even though he has given up 22 flyballs in those starts, only one has been a home run. The Yankees (and their league-leading OPS) against left-handed pitchers should be able to hit more over the ball.
- There are three batters who I’m looking at to start most of my lineups. Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger are three of the top four in all of baseball in OPS against left-handed pitchers. They’re costly options, but they can deliver big results.
- Giancarlo Stanton is also pricey, but he is also worth it. He continues to hit the ball as hard as anyone in baseball. In only 53 games, he has 17 home runs. His season OPS sits at 1.009.
- A cheaper option in the Yankees lineup is Anthony Volpe. Volpe has been this season against left-handed pitchers than he has against right-handed pitchers. He has a .265/.327/.439 slash line against left-handed pitchers, and a .188/.252/.390 against right-handed pitchers.
Core Studs
- Juan Soto has had two hits in each of his last two games. Yesterday, those two hits were home runs. Today, he takes on Sandy Alcantara. He’s had two home runs against him as well in his career.
- It’s not often that you see a batter with a history of success against future Hall of Fame pitcher, Max Scherzer. Christian Yelich is one batter who does, though. He is 13-42 (.310) against Scherzer in his career with six extra-base hits, including three home runs.
- In most situations, you want to avoid every hitter against Tarik Skubal. Salvador Perez is the one hitter to consider. He has hit six extra-base hits, including four home runs, against Skubal in his career.
Value Plays/Punts
- Mark Vientos has five home runs in the last week. He is still at an affordable price if you want to take a chance on riding the hot hand.
- Trevor Larnach is an option against right-handed pitchers. 15 of his 16 home runs have come against right-handed pitchers. Today, he is expected to face right-handed pitcher Randy Vasquez, who has the second-lowest strikeout rate among pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched.
- Javier Baez has a matchup today against Michael Wacha. Baez has gone 10-35 against Wacha in his career. Three of those hits were doubles, and another was a home run.
Sunday’s Top 3 Underdog Player Props
Tarik Skubal (SP- DET) – Over 6.5 Strikeouts
FantasyPros Daily Projections has Tarik Skubal at 7.53 strikeouts. He struck out at least 10 in his last two games. He has been over 6.5 strikeouts in seven of his last ten starts. The last time he faced the Royals was at the end of May. He struck out seven in that game.
Jordan Beck (OF – COL) – Under 1.5 Total Bases
Jordan Beck is in the midst of a slump. He has a batting average of .250 and an OPS of .695 in the month of August, which were each his lowest in a single month. He has only been over 1.5 total bases seven times in 28 August games, which is why he has been under 1.5 total bases in seven straight games going into this one.
Kodai Senga (SP – NYM) – Over 2.5 Earned Runs Allowed
Kodai Senga has given up at least three earned runs in five of his last seven starts. In one of the games that he didn’t, it’s because a few of the runs were unearned. He’s struggling with walks at this point, with at least two walks in six of those seven starts. If you are allowing that many baserunners to reach, games with a lot of earned runs are always possible.
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